


His troubles, my heart

by Mrs_frizzle



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Tony Stark, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Bully Tony Stark, I will update tags when I post more to the story, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, M/M, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Tony Stark Has Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-02-28 14:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13272954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mrs_frizzle/pseuds/Mrs_frizzle
Summary: Basically a highschool au with a shitty title.





	1. Just some generic intro to the story

It was the beginning of the trimester at S.H.I.E.L.D High. Steve was not looking forward to this. He was scrawny as hell in middle school, and he hadn't filled out this summer like he was hoping he would.  
Sams wise words played through his mind, 

"Man, you gotta pack on the protien. You can't just sit around all day drawing and shit! Common, me and James are going to be heading out the the gym in a bit." 

Of course Steve just flipped him off and told him to get bent, but what else was new. Now he was regretting his choices. 

"Hey punk!" Bucky said giving him a knuckle to the forehead. 

"Buck stop it!" Steve said squirming. Bucky laughed at his attempts to break free. 

"Awe Steve, you should of joined me a Sam at the gym! Your too adorable." He gave Steve's cheeks a pinch. 

"Knock it off you jerk!" Steve said but couldn't help laughing when Bucky started tickling him. 

"You seem to be enjoying yourself though! Are you sure you want me to stop?" Bucky said, trying to hide his grin. His friend was adorable. No homo. 

When Bucky finally stopped tickling him Steve gave him the middle finger. "You're a complete asshole." He whined. 

"Ahh you know you love it punk. Otherwise you wouldn't be pining for Stark as hard as you are. No pun intended." Bucky snorted when he saw Steve's blush on the back of him neck.

"I don't have a crush on Stark." He growled. "Hes just a bully."

"Hey I'm straight and I find him oddly attractive buddy. I don't blame you for getting a hard on everytime he pushes you inside a locker." At that Steve pushed him and Bucky fell gracelessly on his ass while laughing like a loon.

"I hate you." Steve muttered. He couldn't help it alright? It was weirdly arousing and he was a young hormonal teenager. It didn't have to make sense. The dick liked what the dick liked. 

Bucky was still on the floor laughing like a complete moron. Steve didn't know why he put up with his friends bullshit. Actually he did. Deep down under his macho exterior Bucky was a gentleman. He was a grade older, a built like a wall. He first found Steve during his elementary years in the boys bathroom crying his little eyes out. 

He pressed his face to the stall with the crying kid in it. "What's wrong little fella." He mumbled. 

Inside the kid sobbed harder, "Meany pushed me into the mud." Bucky felt his heart melt. This poor kid! He was being bullied. 

"Hey kid, if your friends with me I'll protect ya. I promise." He heard the younger boy lessen his crying and the lock on the stall click open. Bucky went inside and gathered the younger boy in his arms, letting him cry on his shoulder. "It's okay. I won't tell anyone you were in here crying." 

The younger boy looked up at him with big blue eyes and nodded. Bucky held him a bit longer then said. "The names James, but you can call me Buck."

"Okay Bucky," the younger boy said, and just like that a friendship was born. Turns out the kid who was bullying him was the great Tony Stark. This unfortunately continued for many School years. He was just glad Steve was in high school so he could protect him again.

Bucky slowly got off the floor after his laughing died down. "Ah you know I was just teasing. It's great to have you by my side again punk."

Steve smiled, "Wish I could say the same, OUCH!" He glared at Bucky.

"Ahh, that didn't hurt did it?" Bucky said, genuine concern flooring his features. Steve smiled and tackled him against the wall landing puny punches on to his stomach. "Okay okay, I'm sorry!"

Steve smiled up at him and Bucky put a hand on to the top of his head. "Punk..." He muttered fondly. The bell rang. "Shit!" They both cursed and rushed to class.

TBC


	2. Idk what to title this lol

Steve got into class just before the second warning bell went off. He almost got lost, however Bucky was kind enough to help him find his class first before he found his own. There wasn't that many people in class. Everyone was basically a freshman and had no clue where the classes were. The ones that did looked just as nervous as he felt. 

The teacher was already at her desk, reviewing her notes over the planned lesson. Steve quickly rushed to see if they had assigned seats like in middle school. When he noticed no name tags he decided to pick a seat at random. He sat in the very back, far away from anyone. He didn't recognize a lot of these kids. Many were probably from other school districts.

"Hey, hey kid. Are you going to have a panic attack, OW! Natasha what the hell was that for?" A kid who was just an inch taller than himself was rubbing his head profusely. 

"Shut up Clint, can't you tell he's nervous?"

"No Natasha I can't. Hence why I asked him what I did." 

The girl looked away from her friend and yelled up at Steve, "Don't mind this asshole, he has ADHD like something fierce."

"Shut up Tasha, no one cares." Clint stuck his tongue out at her. She had such an intense look on her face that Steve was afraid she'd cut it off. Clearly Clint wasn't bothered by it. That or he was a fucking idiot.

"Hey teach we gonna get our lesson yo?"

He was definitely a fucking idiot.

The teacher, Mrs. Hill looked up at him patiently. "Mr. Barton I presume? I hate to inform you we are going to wait till atleast half the class is in the room." She went back to looking down at her notes.

More of the class was slowly piling in. Steve continued to listen to Clint's and Natasha's discussion. He couldn't help but smile at some of the things Clint said to grind her gears, and how she responded to his attempts.

When pretty much the entire class had piled in Mrs. Hill began her lesson. Steve found himself bored. It was just going over the syllabus. Great. This was probably what every class would be like. Just as she was getting to the policies and procedures the door to the front of the class opened loudly. 

The class began tittering like birds over the interruption. Oh god. It was Tony Stark. He looked entirely stoned out of his mind. Mrs. Hill gave him a stern glare. "Sorry teach." He muttered and walked over to the desks and chairs.

Steve was praying that Stark wouldn't choose to sit in the open seat next to him. Stark wobbled up the isle and sat down at the first open seat. Luckily, it was not right next to Steve. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Dude, how high are you?" Clint whispered loudly over to him.

"Dude," Tony giggled, "it's, 'hi how are you.' You worded it wrong."

Clint looked over to Natasha and whispered just as loudly, "He's fucking baked."

"Mr. Barton?" Mrs. Hill said loudly, "please continue your side conversations when class is over."

Clint had the decency to look sheepish. The rest of the class went on without interruption. When Steve was packing up his bag, he notice Tony Stark look up at him. He flushed a bright red. Tony scoffed. "Nice back pack Rogers." He taunted, then sauntered out of the room.

Steve looked down at his bag. It was just a generic Captain America bag. What was so bad about that? The rest of the day continued without any other interaction from Stark, so he considered that a win.

The next couple of weeks went just as smoothly as the first day. Steve made friends quickly with both Clint and Natasha from his first period English class. He met a nice guy named Bruce in his Physical Education class. He shared two classes with Bucky, and three with Sam. And, oh yeah. All of them with Stark.

He wasn't sure how he had gotten this "lucky" but he had. Stark hadn't bullied him so far, so he was counting it as a win. It was probably mostly because he was high as a kite whenever he entered the building. There were rumors going around to why he was getting high, but Steve honestly didn't care. As long as he wasn't getting bullied he couldn't care less what happened to Stark. 

Lunch period was always a blast. Everyone he had made friends with so far all shared the same lunch as he did. But that also meant Tony Stark and his squad did as well. Stark was always at the cheerleaders table being fawned over by all the lovely ladies over there. It seriously pissed Steve off.

He could admit he had a bit of a crush on Stark himself, but honestly he was fucked up in the head. Why would sane woman of all people be fawning over him? Especially Pepper! She was known for her level headedness. Of course Stark was probably only going after her cause she was cheer Captain. Steve hated her.

"Pining after Stark again?" Steve turned around quickly to face his friend.

"Shut up Bucky, not so loud." Steve whispered through grit teeth.

Bucky shrugged. "Fine, be that way." And he went back to eating his own lunch.

Steve turned slowly to face Stark again. He was not "pining" like a love sick fool. He was simply channeling all his anger at Stark and his cronies. Stark may be beautiful, but underneath all that was an ugly personality.

Stark caught his eye, and smirked. As if he knew something Steve didn't. Steve blushed and turned quickly back to his lunch. 

It was almost winter break when the bullying started up again. Stark wasn't doing any hard core drugs. Clearly he was withdrawing from them because he always was cranky and always looked like shit. 

He was walking to lunch period when it happened. He felt an arm grab him from behind and shove him roughly against a locker. "Where do you think your going." Stark all but growled. 

Steve looked up into his eyes, tears brimming in his own. "Awwe crying like a little pussy I see? Why's that momma's boy? Don't you have the perfect little apple pie life?" Tony began punching him in the face. "I despise you Rogers. You don't know how good you have it, do you?" 

Steve began full on sobbing. Tony laughed as his sobs increased. "That's it pretty boy, cry for Mommy! Ugh your so pathetic Rogers." He kept punching him, brutally. 

"HEY!" Someone shouted.

"Oops, parties over. Your boyfriends come to save his wittle pwincess." Stark mocked and ran off laughing.

Steve slumped to the floor in a heap, crying. Bucky was by his side in an instant. "I swear to God I will kill Stark for you one of these days." He carefully held Steve in his arms, rocking him back and forth. "Shh.." he whispered. "I'm going to carry you to the nurse. We'll get you spick and span in no time." 

"I'm not a girl." Steve whispered his voice muffled by Bucky's shirt.

"I know champ, just let me take care of you." Bucky hoisted Steve like a sack of potatoes and began carrying him to the nurse's office.

When they got there the nurse quickly ushered them inside. She began dressing Steve's wounds as Bucky watched him in the corner with a worried look on his face.

"Who did this to you." She said, overly concerned.

"I fell." Steve said sheepishly while Bucky shouted, "Anthony Stark," at the same time.

The nurse clicked her tongue. "He's a troubled kid alright. I'm so sorry he's taken his troubles out on you." Steve just nodded, he didn't really want to talk. "Why don't you go home deary. Your friend can get your homework for you and all that." 

Steve sniffled, "okay." Relieved at the kindness of this nurse. 

"Your gonna be okay champ." Bucky said, and pat him on the head. He walked out of the room to get them both lunch. The nurse was busy looking up Steve's info to report the incident on his file. Steve rested his head on the sick beds and waited for Bucky to return.

He ended up falling asleep, or he must have, because he was being shaken awake by Bucky. "The foods shit today. I hope your okay with Mac and Cheese goo surprise." Bucky rolled his eyes and handed Steve s bowl. "Only a week left till school let's out. You've got this Steve."

Steve smiled, however the smile didn't reach his eyes. He couldn't wait for this week to be over. Bucky stayed with him till lunch let out, and then his mom picked him up shortly after.

"Oh, honey." His mom cooed and embraced him in a hug. Steve sniffled into her shoulder. "Let's get you home."

TBC


	3. Finals week

The next day Stark seemed to be looking for a way to get to Steve. Bucky, of course, went into his overprotective mode whenever he saw this happen. He'd catch whispers of Tony saying, "overprotective boyfriend" and "buzzkill" whenever this happened. He wished Bucky was in more of his classes. Why'd he have to share them all with Stark?

The second day of testing began. Steve was nervous as all hell, constantly bouncing his legs up and down. When tests sheets were passed out Steve got right on it. He studied a couple days for this exam, but each word just looked Greek to him. He could sense Tony was behind him, and it was honestly putting him on edge.

15 minutes in and he heard the seat behind him move. He froze as Tony passed him. He could hear Tony snickering as he passed. He was the first one done in Advanced Biology? Steve bet he just randomly filled in each circle. The teacher glowered at him, and snatched the test out of his hand. He sauntered back to his desk, most likely to bother Steve.

Steve saw that the teacher was already grading his test, and she kept frowning at each interval. Before Tony could bother Steve the teacher piped up with, "Mr. Stark, a word outside." The class giggled whispering to themselves. "And quiet the rest of you." She said to the rest of the class, promptly shutting the door when Stark got outside.

Their outside conversation wasn't so quiet. "I don't appreciate cheating Mr. Stark."

There was an awkward pause then stark nearly screamed, "I didn't cheat!"

"You haven't been sober a single class period, why should I believe you? Who gave you answers?!"

"I did not cheat!" Tony cried out.

"Then how does an addict get a 100% in a class he barely listened to?!" Her voice was escalating, and Steve almost felt bad for Tony. Almost.

"I'm smart." Tony said smugly.

"Right," she spat out, "we're going to the principal young man."

"What!? Oh common!!!" Steve could hear Tony's cursing get quieter and quieter and he followed the teacher to the principals office.

Steve was shaking in his seat. Thank God Tony wasn't going to bother him. But, how the hell did he get answers to the test? Steve stared at his own. Right. He began filling out the rest of the form.

During lunch period everyone was gossiping about Tony Stark cheating on the exam. Steve saw Tony almost enter the cafeteria. But everyone got quiet, and glared up at him. Tony's facade broke, and Steve could see his lip quivering. He ran out of the entrance before he could start crying. 

Steve's heart melted. He didn't understand why he pitied Tony. Tony had cheated, he deserved what he got. But deep down, he figured Tony was hurting. There were rumors going around about him. Steve wanted to be above listening to them, but he couldn't help it.

The rumors were about Tony's life at home and how his father treated him. Steve couldn't help but wonder if they were true. If so, Steve would almost understand why Tony took his frustration out on him.

Tony was not in the next class, or the last. Steve eased his way through them with no problem. He wondered where Tony could be.

\----

The week went by quickly. Tony wasn't in any class and Steve felt at ease. He'd have to make up the two finals he missed on Monday over the weekend. God, why did Tony have to be such a jerk? His bruises were slowly fading, but the memory of what Tony said was still clear in his brain.

When the weekend came around Steve entered the building to take his tests. He was ushered to a small room designated for detention. He was shocked when he saw Tony in there. His desk was full of finals and he was quickly filling each out.

Steve sat as far away from him as he could, and began filling out his own finals. He couldn't help wondering why Tony had so many. The teacher who was supposed to be supervising was snoring softly in his chair.

Steve's curiosity got the better of him. "Stark." He whispered. Surprisingly Tony turned around. "What do you want Rogers." He seemed tired beyond belief.

"Why do you have so many finals?" Steve's whispering was getting a bit louder.

"Because I'm a genius." Tony scoffed and turned back around to finish the rest of his finals.

Steve blushed out of embarrassment. Why did Stark have to be such a brat? Why couldn't he give an honest answer for once? Steve huffed softly and got back to his own finals.

Finally free from finals he rushed back home. He spent his break hanging around Bucky and the rest of the gang. However, one day when he turned on the news, he saw Tony's face staring back at him.

"Tony Stark is one of the youngest teenagers in America going to MIT." The announcer blared. Steve turned pale. Tony was actually a genius. And he wouldn't be back next semester.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Steve spent the rest of high school without being bullied. He decided to listen to Sam and Bucky, and started heading to the gym. The beginning of sophomore year he had a growth spurt. People were beginning to take notice of him. No longer was he skinny sickly Steve. Now, practically everyone was throwing themselves at him. He had to admit, it was kinda nice being noticed.

Bucky would pout and complain how he was no longer taller. Steve would chuckle at his attempts to be a brat about it. Deep down he could tell Bucky was relieved that Steve could fight for himself. Besides, Bucky had that hot Russian transfer student as a girlfriend while Steve was single. He honestly had no room to complain.

One day at the gym Bucky brought it up. "I don't see why you wanna stay single." He said, while doing crunches.

"I told you Buck, I'm just not interested." Steve looked away bashfully when Bucky got a knowing look on his face. 

"You're still pining for Stark. After all these years Steve?!" Steve winced at Bucky's harsh tone. "You have got to get over that little crush you have on him." He hissed, "there is so much better out there waiting for you."

Steve looked up sharply at Bucky, "I can't help it Buck!" He hissed, "I don't know why my brain can't get past it, but it can't. I think there is something seriously wrong with me."

Bucky snorted, "Stockholm Syndrome much?"

Steve glared at him. He knew Bucky was just trying to look after him, but it was getting on his last nerve. Yeah, he may still be pining after Stark. The guy was beautiful. It was purely just sexual attraction and nothing more. He'd find someone who looked like Stark and just go to town. Get it out if his system.

He was a senior now, he shouldn't be holding onto a crush from freshman year. But, it was more than that. This crush had been since childhood. He was smitten when he first saw Tony. That was back in preschool, when Stark was shy himself back then.

Back then Stark was almost his friend. He'd sit with Steve at lunch and watch over Steve's shoulder as he colored in his coloring book. Steve would blush at the intensity of his gaze, but secretly loved the attention. Stark would wave to him whenever he saw him, and Steve would bashfully look away. It was almost cute. 

Until elementary school started and Stark became a whole other person. He was constantly throwing tantrums and picking fights with the smaller kids. Steve happened to be one of them. Sometimes he wonders, if he had just looked different, would Stark have fought him so intensely?

He honestly didn't know. The teachers didn't seem to want to help Tony at all. They weren't keen on him, and he got detention after detention. Mostly for what they presumed was cheating. Stark was known for breaking the rules so cheating didn't seem that far off. 

"I'm a genius." 

Stark didn't seem happy when he said that. He seemed to say it with sarcasm, but at the end of the day it was true. Was Tony so used to being told he was cheating that he didn't believe for a second he could be anything more? Steve didn't know. He desperately wished he could see what was going on inside his head.

Why did Tony do the things he did? Why was he so dangerous, yet charming? Steve couldn't understand why he thought it, but he believed there was more to Tony than people realized. The rumors about his dad, the anger he held towards other people, the contempt against anyone who could have a perfect "apple pie life". 

Steve wished his mind would let him move on from Stark. He was such a toxic person, but Steve couldn't help falling for him. Maybe it was his type. Steve continued his workout routine in silence, ruminating on the thoughts of Tony Stark.


End file.
